Posted on 01/20/2005 4:49:01 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
SYRACUSE NY--When Lynnee Westbrook thinks about what her son went through her eyes well up. She says her two children take the school bus everyday, so she can't understand why the vice principal at McKinley Brighton told her 5-year-old son to walk home.
Under school policy, students must live more than a mile and a half to be bused. School spokesperson Neil Driscoll says Kevin is listed as a walker and lives on Newell Street, a block away from the school. Westbrook says they actually live on West Brighton Avenue and she doesn't know how the school got that information. She says her son walked several blocks to his daycare, where he gets dropped off after school.
"My baby who is 5-years-old who never walked anywhere a day in his life has to cross over major intersections to get to school to daycare. I felt that was very unacceptable," Westbrook said.
Westbrook says when she contacted the school, the vice principal had no knowledge of her child and said her son may have gotten confused with another conversation she was having with an older student.
"What's the need for him to walk? Why wasn't I informed? If he if missed his bus or whatever, you know that was my point. Nobody contacted me or they didn't contact emergency contact," Westbrook said.
"It was cold and my stuff was falling down, and I had to put my gloves in my book bag. I put my hands in my pocket," said Kevin Jennings, 5-year-old forced to walk home.
Kevin's mom says she wants to get to the bottom of what went wrong. Westbrook says she plans to get to the bottom of this during a meeting with the vice principal of the school Thursday.
He has been behind liberal lines a bit too long.
Well, when a kid missing a school bus ride and having t walk several blocks to daycare make he news, I suspect its the latter.
The "mother" going to a "newspaper" or television tells you she was more interested in publicity (aka lawsuit) than making sure her child was safe.
when I was a kid
That was then. This is now.
OK, tell us what 'could' have happened. She was inside a bus, in the custody of the bus driver the entire time. How is that even comparable to her being dumped on the street and expected to find her own way home?
Sheesh, what are some people thinking?
Five year olds shouldn't walk to school.
That's why I let mine drive.
Probably :) I think I picked out a random message to hit reply to.
"Especially, "soccer moms" with a cell phone in one hand and a cig in the other."
A remark only made by the anti-family, anti-Christian, militant secular gay liberal DU establishment.
I beg to differ.
Our schools make sure that the young bus riders get on their buses, so where was the school when this child should have been placed on the proper bus? If they weren't making him walk, they should have been making sure he got on the proper bus.
LOL, walking home for lunch! I remember doing that!!!
That is supposed to impress me?! I also know that parents need to take care of their own damn kids instead of expecting someone else to keep them ALL DAY and cart them around from one school to the next. Either expect something UNEXPECTED to happen by MISTAKE or stay the hell home with the kids you bring into the world. Going to the media only tells me that the mother wasn't interested in ONLY taking care of the child.
Your not a parent are you?
I suspect that this woman also relies on the Taxpayer to feed her boy breakfast and lunch.
I wonder if the daycare is subsidezed as well.
a bit dramatic of you - and not a similar situation - your child was never on the streets walking around, unsupervised - she was safe on this school bus the whole time.
And the mother (your wife?) who was sick with worry for an hour (?) - did she call the school or the bus dispatch?
The bus drivers can be contacted by radio and with my own child, who at 5 got off at the wrong stop, blocks from home, they found her crying with some kind parent waiting with her. I never made a huge deal about it - but I spoke to the driver and my daughter who learned the right bus stop
I think I'll stick with my "plain stupid" opinion.
I'm sure you will! lol ;)
'A mistake was made (by someone). Everybody should calm down, and work toward avoiding similar mistakes in the future. There are always going to be errors in any institutional system, even if everyone is doing his best all the time. It's part of life, and meltdowns and lawsuits aren't going to change it.'
I like how you think!
When you were five years old, was the threat of child abduction as severe as it is today?
Save your abuse for the NEA, and the politicians and school administrators who run this extortion racket, not parents who likely have little financial option.
Dont the Rats do this? Attack the person instead of facing the issue?
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